Lost in Phineas-Land
by EDD17SP
Summary: Doofenshmirtz's latest inator hits Buford, inserting the bully into Isabella's subconscious. He soon realizes that while in her imagination, Isabella's Phineas-land day dreams aren't just fantasies. He becomes part of them!
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Good morning, Agent P," Monogram said to Perry. The platypus secret agent, sitting in his chair, said nothing in reply. "Dr. Doofenshmirtz made a very strange post on his blog this morning. It says, 'I don't feel like taking over the tri-state area today, going to screw with my stupid brother's subconscious instead.' We don't know what to make of that, so get out there and find out what that scatterbrain has planned."

Perry tipped his fedora, grabbed his jetpack, and flew out an open tunnel back to the surface.

"So..." Carl said slowly, "we're starting with this story line?"

"Why not? We're shaking things up for a change."

Carl shrugged. "I don't know. It just seems weird."

* * *

"So then he says, 'Now, let me ask you this: do you trust 'em?'" Buford said to Baljeet. "'Because I gotta get a pair cat handcuffs and I gotta get 'em right away.'"

"Not that I am not enjoying listening to you recount a stand-up comedy routine by Steve Martin," Baljeet interrupted, "but why are we walking on this side of the street?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, we always walk down the other side of the street because that is the side Phineas and Ferb live on. This is Isabella's side of the street."

"Keen observation, Baljeet. We're on this side because I'm going to play a prank on Isabella this morning."

"Oh, is that why you are carrying a ball of twine, a live lobster, and two dozen quarter-twenty wing nuts?"

"Yes. Yes it is."

Baljeet looked at the lobster in the bucket Buford was carrying. "You are not going to hurt it, are you?"

"No, but I am planning on eating it after I'm finished with the prank. Little bit of garlic, little bit of butter…"

They walked another block in silence, Buford having lost interest in the Steve Martin routine, Baljeet never really having had any interest in it at all. As the crossed the next side street, still two blocks away from Isabella's house, Baljeet asked, "Why do you feel the need to prank Isabella?"

"Don't you remember yesterday? She insulted me!"

"I don't remember that."

"That's okay. Just pay attention to the flashback."

"Where is it?"

"Just be patient. Wait until the horizontal divider and the text changes to italics."

* * *

_"Okay, Isabella," Phineas said, "Since you have your Fifteenth Century Shakespearian Costume patch, we need you to make Buford's Mercutio costume for our production of Ferb's crossover play between Space Adventure and Romeo and Juliet, 'Captain Lump Sharkboard and Juliet.'_

_"Why do I have to make Buford's costume? Do you have any idea how much material and thread of various colors and thicknesses it's going to take to make a costume for Buford?"_

_"I don't know. How much?"_

_"A lot!"_

_"Hey! I heard that! Are you calling me fat, girlie?"_

_"Uh…" She ignored Buford's question. "So you're playing Captain Sharkboard, Phineas?"_

_"Of course."_

_"Who's gets to be Juliet?"_

_"Well-"_

_"Don't try to change the subject!" Buford yelled, pointing an accusing finger at Isabella. "You think I'm fat!"_

_"Well, to be fair, Buford, you do outweigh the rest of us by easily twenty meatloafs."_

* * *

"That's it? That's the whole reason why you need to prank Isabella?"

"Yes."

"Really?"

"Yes."

Baljeet was slightly dumbstruck. "Buford! You _are_ fat! I know what size pants you wear!"

"I know. Husky. I know I'm how big I am, and I don't care if other people think I'm big, but I don't like it when people talk about me like I'm not standing fifteen feet away."

Baljeet folded his arms. "And I suppose you expect me to help you pull off…whatever it is you plan on doing with a live lobster."

"Of course."

"Well, I hate to tell you this…Oh, wait, no I do not. I fear Isabella much more than I fear you. I do not wish to take any part in this." By this point, they had reached the sidewalk in front of Isabella's house. They stopped walking. "I will take your inevitable wedgie as punishment for not helping you later. I would rather have my underwear complete and utterly destroyed than have to face Isabella's wrath."

"Suit yourself. It's gonna be really funny."

"See you later. If you survive, that is." And with that, Baljeet ran across the street to Phineas and Ferb's house.

* * *

_Doofenshmirtz Evil Incorporated!_

Perry landed his jet pack on the penthouse balcony. Dr. Doofenshmirtz and a large sheet-covered inator were already on the deck, waiting for him.

"Ah, Perry the Platypus!" Doof said with a smile as Perry removed his jetpack. "How nice to see you. Well, not really, but I thought I'd try to be a little more polite to people, even if you are my nemesis."

Perry rolled his eyes.

"So, let me tell you my evil plan. I feel like I should be trapping you first, but it seems like we're doing this whole thing kinda out of order, so I'll trap you after I tell you my evil scheme.

"Anyway, this morning I woke up and just didn't really feel up to taking over the tri-state area. Too much effort, not enough reward, since you will, in the end, defeat me. So, instead, I'm just going to annoy the heck out of my brother the mayor. And how will I do that, you ask?"

He pulled the sheet off his inator. "BEHOLD! The Imagination Insert-inator!"

Perry thought the machine just looked like an oversized canister vacuum cleaner with no hose and a ray gun attached to the top.

"You like it? I built it out of an old vacuum cleaner I found while cleaning out my attic. Recycling!"

Perry rolled his eyes again.

"Anyway, this machine will do two things. First, the ray gun will scan my body and convert me into microscopic pieces of gray matter. Then, it will suck me into the canister, which will hold my miniature form. Once inside, I will use a molecular sized control panel, the same one from my old de-evolutionator, to target my brother's head. The ray will then insert me into my brother's subconscious. Not only will I be in his day dreams, but I will be able to manipulate them, too. I can't control them, only Roger can do that, of course, I mean, it's his brain. But, I will be able to manipulate anything he imagines, and he won't be able to control what _I_ do. Like, for instance, if he's day dreaming about cruising around town in a Z28 Chevy Camaro, I can take control of another car and crash into him. He will be so freaked out that his day dreams become day nightmares! He won't have a clue what's going on!"

Perry stared at him. Doof stared back.

"Okay, now I'll trap you."

Doof pushed a button on a remote that he pulled from his pocket. A cage swung out from the roof on a boom arm and dropped down to land over Perry. Perry quickly curled into a ball and rolled forward. The cage missed him.

"Aw, man!" Doof gasped.

Perry jumped through the air and punched him in the face. Doof stumbled backwards into the Imagination Insert-inator. The activation button was pressed. A green retractor ray shot out of the inator and extended out into the suburbs.

"Uh-oh. I hope that doesn't hit anybody," Doofenshmirtz mumbled.

* * *

Buford crouched as he ran around the side of Isabella's house to the backyard. He was looking for her bedroom window, which was on the back of the house.

Finding her window, he peaked inside. Isabella was tying her bow into her hair, facing away from the window.

"Heh-heh-heh!" he laughed quietly, ducking down and setting the bucket containing the lobster on the ground. Just as he was about to reach into the bucket and pick up the crustacean, he was struck by-

"Oh no! A random green ray from the sky!"

The ray shrunk Buford down, and then retracted, taking him all the way back to the Doofenshmirtz Evil Incorporated building in town.

* * *

"Hey! Where am I?" Buford called out. "Hello?"

* * *

Doofenshmirtz and Perry stopped their tussle on the deck at the sound of the voice.

"Did you hear that, Perry the Platypus?"

Perry nodded.

"I think it came from inside the Imagination Insert-inator!" They both ran over to the device and listened.

"Hello?" came from inside.

"Uh-oh. I seem to have sucked up an innocent civilian. Well, I guess I'll have to let him out."

* * *

Buford looked around. He seemed to be in a pristine room colored completely white. It was kind of dark and shadowy inside here, though. The only noticeable features seemed to be a tube in the ceiling, through which Buford assumed he had entered, and a control panel, which was the only thing providing any light.

"Ooh! A control panel! I'm gonna randomly push some buttons!"

* * *

"Ooh! A control panel! I'm gonna randomly push some buttons!" Doof and Perry heard the voice inside the inator say.

"NO! DON'T PUSH ANY BUTTONS!" Doof yelled.

The green ray atop the vacuum canister suddenly shot out again, disappearing in the same direction as before.

A guilty look crossed Dr. Doofenshmirtz's face. "This is not good."

**More to come!**

**I just couldn't resist putting the Z28 Camaro in there. Most of my stories have a classic car somewhere, so I figured I'd just have Doofenshmirtz mention one.**

**Please Review! I crave your feedback!**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Isabella thought she heard something outside her window. She finished tying her bow, walked over to the window and opened it. She looked around, but didn't see anyone.

She looked down. There was a bucket containing a live lobster right below the window.

"What in the world…?"

She leaned slightly out of the window to get a better look at the bucket, as if getting closer might somehow clue her in as to how it got there. As she was looking down, a green ray of light struck her on the top of the head. She didn't feel it, nor did she see it.

"Huh."

Isabella left her room, walked outside, picked up the bucket, and then walked across the street to Phineas and Ferb's house.

* * *

"What the…? Where am I?"

Buford was surrounded by darkness. He could see himself clear as day, but everything around him was just empty blackness.

"Well, this has certainly been an interesting morning. First an empty, or nearly empty, white room, and now an empty black room, neither of which I know how I got in to."

Suddenly, the blackness faded away. In an instant, Buford found himself standing in Phineas and Ferb's backyard. The brothers were there, sitting on the ground beneath their tree, as was Baljeet.

"Whoa. This just keeps getting weirder," Buford said as he sat down next to Baljeet.

"What does, Buford?" Phineas asked.

Before Buford could respond, the gate opened, revealing a beaming Isabella. "Hey, Phineas. Whatchyadoin'?"

Phineas's eyes suddenly widened as he caught sight of Isabella. "H-hi, I-Isabella," he stuttered, and gave a small wave. Isabella giggled.

"What's the matter with you?" Buford asked Phineas as Isabella walked over.

Phineas stood up. "Isabella, I can't hide it any longer!" Phineas cried, taking her hands in his. "I love you!"

"What the heck?" Buford said quietly.

Isabella gasped, her smile wide, her eyes half-shut. Phineas put one arm around her back and leaned her backwards as he quickly pushed his lips against hers.

"Awwwww," Baljeet sighed. He and Ferb stood up. "Come on, guys. Let's give them some alone time." He and Ferb started to walk into the house.

Buford just stared at his two friends in front of him, still kissing. Isabella suddenly opened her eyes and caught sight of him. "Uh, Buford? Don't you have somewhere better to be?"

Buford stood up. "No, as a matter of fact I don't! I'm not leaving just because Phineas just suddenly got a clue! I came over here to partake in whatever mind-boggling contraption Dinner Bell and Silent Cal put together."

Phineas and Isabella both stared at Buford. "Silent Cal? That's a good one," Phineas said through a giggle.

"Buford, why won't you go away?!" Isabella yelled. "You're ruining the moment!"

"I'm not going anywhere until some physics are defied here. And why isn't your hair full of quarter-twenty nuts?"

"OH, I'LL GIVE YOU DEFYING PHYISICS!"

The sky suddenly swirled with thick, black clouds.

"Whoa. When did you gain the power to control the weather?"

"It's my imagination!" Isabella screamed.

A bolt of lighting suddenly shot down from the sky and struck Buford. The bully remained perfectly still for just a moment, then disintegrated into a pile of ash.

"Isabella!" Phineas cried. "You just killed Buford! What are we going to do! Isabella! Isabella!"

* * *

"Isabella! Isabella!"

Isabella opened her eyes. "Huh? What?" She had one hand on the gate to Phineas and Ferb's backyard and the other hand holding the bucket containing the live lobster. Candace was shaking her by the shoulders.

"Isabella, are you okay?" Candace asked.

"I…I, uh…what?"

"You were just standing there like you were going to enter the backyard, but your eyes were closed and you had your face all scrunched up like you were in pain," Candace explained.

"Oh…I…I don't know." Isabella thought hard. She could remember crossing the street, and she could remember slipping into Phineas-land right before going into the backyard as usual, but then…

Why was Buford so incompliant in her day dream?

"Are you okay?" Candace asked again.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm okay."

"Good. What's with the lobster?"

"I don't know. I found it beneath my window this morning."

"Oh. Okay, then. I'm going to the mall with Stacy. See you later, Isabella."

"Bye, Candace," Isabella called back as Candace walked away. She pushed open the gate, her smile returning to her face. "Hey, Phineas. Whatchyadoin'?"

Phineas and Ferb were under the tree with Baljeet. To Isabella's surprise, Buford was not there. "Hey, Isabella," Phineas responded. "We haven't decided yet. What's in the bucket?"

"A lobster."

Phineas furrowed his brow. "Why?"

"He was under my bedroom window this morning. I don't know where he came from."

Phineas turned to his brother. "Ferb, I know what we're gonna do today! Hey, where's Perry?"

**Uh-oh. What happened to Buford? Plenty more heading your way! This story is just getting started!**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"Oh no!" Dr. Doofenshmirtz cried. "That person could have been inserted into anyone's subconscious!"

Perry looked at the evil scientist, waiting for him to come up with a plan.

"Oh well. It's not my problem."

Perry frowned and put his hands on his hips.

Doof sighed. "Fine, I'll think of something."

* * *

The backyard faded away, the infinite blackness returning. Only the pile of ash that had once been Buford remained. The dust began to shift, moving on its own. It became the shape of Buford's body, and then reformed, the boy and his clothing good as new, as if nothing had ever happened.

Buford sat up. "Okay…I am completely weirded out now. What the heck is going on?"

* * *

"Okay, guys!" Phineas told Baljeet and Isabella. "We're going to build a lobster!"

The boy and girl stared back at him blankly. "That is it?" Baljeet asked.

"Yeah."

"Not a giant lobster we can ride on?" Isabella asked.

"No."

"Not a lobster themed amusement park ride?" Baljeet offered.

"Nope."

"So we are building…a lobster."

"Yes."

"Like…" Isabella thought about her words carefully. "We are building a life size replica of a lobster?"

"Yes."

Baljeet and Isabella stared at Phineas. "Okay…"

"Why?"

* * *

The blackness faded into the Phineas and Ferb's backyard again. Buford blinked. "And…I'm back in their yard again."

"I don't know why, Isabella! I can't think of anything to do today because I'm so distracted by you!"

Buford watched Phineas kneel on the ground in front of Isabella and grab her hands. "I love you, Isabella!"

"Wow. Again?" Buford whispered. "Didn't this just happen under a slightly different set of circumstances?"

"Really, Phineas?"

"Yes, Isabella! For the rest of my life-"

As Phineas continued speaking, the backyard, Ferb, and Baljeet disappeared and was replaced by a beach on a very calm ocean. The sun was low on the horizon, casting orange streaks across the purple sky. Phineas was suddenly shirtless, instead wearing a sash from which a scabbard containing a sword hung. He also seemed to be much more muscular than Buford remembered.

"What just happened?" Buford said aloud.

"-I will love you and only you!" Phineas continued. "Can't we be together forever and ever?"

Isabella giggled.

Buford looked away from his two friends and looked out over the ocean. There was a two masted-sailing ship on the farthest reaches of the visible ocean. "Mm. Cool ship."

Isabella heard Buford's few words. She suddenly broke her gaze into Phineas's eyes and spotted the bully standing, partially hidden by a rock, a few yards away. "Buford! What the heck are you doing here again?"

Buford turned with a start, throwing up his hands in front of him defensively. "I don't know! I wish I did! Please don't hit me with lightning again!"

With no warning, the world turned black again, leaving Buford all alone.

* * *

"Isabella?"

"Huh?"

"Are you okay?" Phineas was holding the lobster from the bucket and Ferb was measuring it, and then sketching out the lobster on a blue print.

"Yeah. I'm okay…I think…actually, I'm not sure."

Phineas set the lobster down on the table and walked over to Isabella. Ferb tried to continue measuring the crustacean, but without Phineas restraining it, the lobster grabbed Ferb's index finger between its claw.

"What's the matter?" Phineas asked.  
Ferb didn't make a sound. He just stared at the lobster.

"Well…I…I, uh…"

"Ferb! Are you okay?" Baljeet asked. While Ferb still didn't react, his face was contorted in pain.

"It's nothing, Phineas."

Baljeet grabbed the lobster from behind and pulled. Ferb let out an extremely high pitched scream as the claw slid across his skin. It felt like his finger was going to be dislocated.

"Are you sure?"

Isabella smiled reassuringly. "I'm sure."

Ferb put his free hand on the edge of the drawing table. Baljeet dug the heels of his shoes into the ground and pulled as hard as he could. The lobster's claw lost its grip, and so did Baljeet. The crustacean flew out of his hands and landed, safe and sound, on a high tree branch.

"Great," Baljeet mumbled.

* * *

Having grown tired of standing in the endless dark, Buford sat down on the ground again.

"I know! I'll just close my eyes, and when I open them, I'll be anywhere other than here. Why didn't I think of that before?"

Buford closed his eyes. "I'll count to ten. That's a nice even number. One…two…three…"

* * *

"Be careful, Baljeet!" Phineas called up the tree.

"Want do you think I am doing?" the Indian boy responded, sounding rather annoyed.

Phineas chose not to respond.

Isabella stood a little ways away, watching, but not really paying attention. _Did I remember to feed Pinky this morning? I hope I didn't forget. I can't imagine what it would be like for him if he didn't get fed…_

* * *

"Eight…nine…ten!" Buford opened his eyes and smiled. "It worked!" His smile quickly faded. "I'm in Isabella's kitchen…"

Buford heard a sound coming from the other side of the island. It sounded like a whimpering. He rounded the island and found Pinky lying on the floor, still as shaky as always, whining quietly. His dog dish sat next to him, empty.

"Hey, little guy," Buford said, couching down next to the little dog. "You look hungry."

He looked around the room until he spotted a banana on the counter. It was the only edible thing he saw.

"Here," he said, grabbing it and holding it under Pinky's nose. "You want this?"

Pinky instantly jumped up, barking happily. Buford smiled and peeled the banana, and then set the edible part of the fruit in Pinky's dog dish. The Chihuahua munched happily.

And then, everything went black again.

* * *

"Get out of my head, Buford Van Stomm!"

Phineas and Ferb froze and stared at Isabella blankly, visibly confused by her outburst. Behind them, Baljeet shrieked as he fell out of the tree.

**That last gag would have been much funnier if it was visual.**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Isabella laughed nervously. "Um…I'm bet you're a little confused right now…"

Phineas raised an eyebrow. "Immensely."

Isabella laughed again. Baljeet walked over, teetering back and forth a bit, feeling a little woozy.

"Um…okay…how to put this…"

"Speaking of Buford," Baljeet started, "where is he?"

"Good question," Phineas replied. "You haven't seen him this morning?"

"Well, I walked here with him this morning like we always do, but then I came over here and he went to go-" Baljeet suddenly realized what he was about to say. "-I mean, uh…he had to, uh, d- u- he…" The others stared at him. Baljeet fidgeted nervously. "You know, I think I might have a concussion from falling out of the tree, I'm going to go give myself a CAT scan."

And with that, Baljeet ran from the backyard as fast as his legs would carry him.

"That was somewhat out of character," Ferb observed.

"Anyway…" Phineas started again. "What were you saying, Isabella?"

_Darn it! I was hoping he'd forgotten about that. _"Oh, uh…" Isabella sighed and lowered her head. "Okay, look. I…I'm a pretty frequent daydreamer. You probably can't tell because usually I can keep my focus at the same time…usually. For instance, today, I keep getting lost in my day dreams because…weird stuff keeps happening. In my head, I mean."

Phineas cocked his head to the side. "Like what?"

"Well…Like…Buford."

"Buford?"

"Uh-huh. He isn't usually in my day dreams. At all. Today, he was in all of them."

The corner of Phineas's mouth turned upward for just a split second, not even long enough for Isabella to notice the smirk.

"But that wasn't the weird part. The weird part was that I didn't seem to have control over him."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, It's my imagination, right? I should be able to control everything that goes on inside my head, right?"

Phineas shrugged. "Right."

"But I couldn't make Buford do what I wanted him to do. I tried to imagine him leaving and…" Isabella's mouth suddenly dropped open. "And…he started talking to me! And I wasn't imagining that!"

"I don't follow."

"It's like there was a sentient 'Buford' inside my imagination doing whatever he wanted! Thinking for himself, independent of my thoughts."

"Is that even possible?" Phineas asked.

Isabella glared at him.

"Okay, point taken. We do a lot of impossible stuff."

"Phineas you gotta help me figure out what's going on!" Isabella was practically pleading. "Every time I imagine something, Buford is in there, running amuck in my subconscious!"

Now Phineas couldn't hold back the smile any longer. "Are you sure you're not thinking about Buford for a different reason?"

Isabella narrowed her eyes. "Like what?"

"Like…maybe you like him. He's not here so you can't stop thinking about him."

Isabella gritted her teeth and clenched her fists. "Phineas…It is taking all of my self control to keep from wringing your neck right now."

Phineas's eyes went wide and he took a step backwards. He looked scared. He whispered in Ferb's ear, "Suddenly, I envy Baljeet for having left." Ferb nodded. He turned back to Isabella. "Sorry, Isabella. Ferb and I will get to work."

"On what?"

"You'll see."

The lobster in the tree forgotten, Phineas and Ferb headed to the garage.

* * *

Doofenshmirtz sat on a box, thinking hard for a solution. Perry was thinking hard, too. He was thinking that Doofenshmirtz was posed exactly like "The Thinker."

Doof suddenly sat up. "Ooh, I know! I could…Oh, no, that won't work. I didn't take into account the melting point of silicon."

He started thinking again. "Oh, I could-! Nope, that won't work, either."

Perry was getting a bit frustrated.

"Oh! I got it! I got it!"

Perry perked up a bit.

"I am definitely having that ham steak in the freezer for dinner!"

Perry got up off the floor, walked over to Doof, jumped up on the scientist's lap and slapped him the face.

"Hey!" Perry put his hands on his hips and looked Doofenshmirtz in the eye. "Okay, you're right, I deserved that."

Perry jumped down as Doof stood up and walked back inside. "Don't worry, I'm still thinking. I'm just going to take the ham steak out of the freezer to defrost."

Perry rolled his eyes.

* * *

"Okay…It is really boring in here."

Buford had been sitting in the dark for at least ten minutes now. And he was bored.

"Well, I gotta do something to pass the time." He removed the ball of twine and the quarter-twenty nuts from his pocket and set them on the "ground." He started threading the nuts onto the twine, one at a time and tying them in place, evenly spaced.

"I don't know what's worse: The constantly changing scenery, people, and impossible occurrences, or the never ending blackness." He picked up the string and inspected the spacing of the five nuts he had strung so far. "Or the fact that I'm stringing nuts onto twine to pass the time."

* * *

"All done!" Phineas announced.

Isabella had been sitting against the tree on the side facing the fence, trying to keep her mind clear of any thoughts at all. She stood and returned to Phineas and Ferb when Phineas spoke.

Before her was a small table, just big enough for one person to lay out on, and a large computer console next to it, a bundle of wires connected to it laying on the key board.

"That's great, Phineas!" Her apparent excitement faded. "What is it?"

"Uh…we didn't actually think of a name for it. But, not important. This device will allow us to see what you're imagining. We hook these electrodes up to your head-" He pointed to the bundle of wires on the key board. "-and then we'll shut down your cognitive functions so we can get a-"

"Hold on! Hold on! Hold on!" Isabella cried, waving her hands out in front of her. "Back up the truck! What are you gonna do to me?"

"We're going to shut down your cognitive functions."

"Okay, explain that to me in a way that doesn't make it sound like you're going to kill me!"

"We're not going to completely shut down your brain. All your involuntary bodily functions, like your heart beat and breathing, will still continue. We only shutting down the part of your brain that does conscious thinking."

"Mmm…I don't feel much better. Besides, if you do that, how are you going to see what my imagination is doing?"

"Well, your imagination isn't really dependent on your ability to think. That's why every night, you have multiple dreams but don't realize it. By shutting down your cognitive thought, we can see what you're imagination does on it's own, with only your memories as a guidance system."

Isabella looked a little confused. "Alright," she sighed. "I don't really completely follow, but I trust you guys."

Phineas smiled. "Great! Just lay down here on this table. Ferb will attach the electrodes while I get the computer ready to go."

Isabella sat down on the table and slowly leaned back. Ferb picked up the electrodes and separated the first one from the group. He licked the suction cup on the end and stuck it right in the middle of Isabella's forehead before she could protest.

"Ugh! Ferb, that's disgusting!"

"How else am I supposed to make them stick?"

* * *

"I have it easy, you know," Doof told Perry as he filled the kitchen sink with water. "I never have to worry about fixing my mistakes because you always blow them up for me."

He shut off the tap and dropped in the ham steak to defrost. "That's why I can't come up with any ideas. I don't usually have to do something I already did backwards."

Perry suddenly had an idea, but of course, being that he couldn't talk, he needed to find another way of conveying it to Dr. Doofenshmirtz. He scanned the kitchen until he spotted a large carving knife. On the counter next to it was a loaf of Italian bread.

This gave him an idea. He grabbed the loaf of bread and the knife and put them on the table. He sat down in a chair and started carving up the bread into letters. He was spelling out a message.

* * *

"Ready, Isabella?" Phineas asked.

"I guess so."

"Okay, here we go!" Phineas pressed the ENTER key. "It might take a minute to completely shut down your mind."

Isabella stared up at the sky. Though she had tried to keep her mind completely free of any thoughts, she couldn't help it as she prepared to lose consciousness. _Don't think about Phineas. Don't think about Phineas. Think about anything but Phineas!_

As her vision started to fade to black, the last thing she pictured in her mind was Phineas's face.

_Darn it!_

And then she was out.

**I just saw on the Phineas and Ferb wiki, and , that next year, summer of 2014, there is going to be a Phineas and Ferb hour-long STAR WARS episode! YES! I have never been so excited! **

**It's kinda ironic, too, because in _P&F Industries #7: Phineas and Perry-Intrepid Avengers_ I gave Perry, Doofenshmirtz, and Phineas lightsabers. **

**Only thing that could make Phineas and Ferb more awesome: lightsabers.**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

The 'ground' beneath Buford suddenly began to ripple, and then it became grass.

"Here we go again."

He stood up, put the ball of twine and it's new ornaments in his pocket, and looked around.

"Huh. Looks like Danville Park."

* * *

"Ooh, look, Ferb! We're getting something!"

The screen flickered a few times, and then Danville park appeared. And right in the center of the screen was-

"And there's Buford."

_"Huh. Looks like Danville Park."_

"He sounds confused, like he doesn't really know where he is. Which is weird, because Isabella is imagining this, she should know where it is."

"Unless, of course, Isabella is imagining that Buford doesn't know where he is."

"Good point."

* * *

The sun shone brightly overhead, but Buford could not feel it's warmth. He looked around. He heard birds singing in the trees, but could not actually spot any. In fact, there didn't appear to be any sign of any life anywhere, save for the plants, of course.

Then suddenly, he heard, "Hey, Buford!"

Buford spun on his heel and found Phineas standing right behind him.

* * *

"Ooh, look! There's me!"

The unconscious Isabella shifted uncomfortably, but the boys didn't notice.

* * *

"Phineas! I'm so glad you're here. Wait, are you really you or are you another apparition?"

Phineas looked down at his hands. "I don't know. What do you mean?"

"I guess that means you must be you," Buford shrugged. "Reality, has been, like, fading in and out all day. I can't figure out where I am." He shifted a little closer to Phineas. "Is this real?"

* * *

"That seems like a strange thing to ask," Phineas said. "Why would Isabella be imagining Buford as not knowing he's part of her imagination?"

Ferb shrugged.

* * *

"Hmm…I'm not sure," Phineas answered Buford. "But, on a completely unrelated subject, have you seen Isabella?"

Buford frowned and narrowed his eyes. "Yes. Well, sort of, anyway."

"Huh?"

"Let me explain in a little more detail," Buford said. "First-" He suddenly broke off. "Uh-oh. Not again."

"What's wrong?"

Buford spun Phineas around to see Isabella walking toward them from far across the field.

"Oh! There she is!" Phineas said excitedly, his already broad smile widening even more and his eyes suddenly glazing over.

"I'm going to hide behind that tree. If she asks, I'm not here."

"Uh-huh," Phineas said dreamily, barely noticing. Buford took off for the trees and hid behind the widest one he could find.

* * *

"Why am I talking like that?" Phineas asked.

"I think you'll find out soon enough."

_"Hey, Phineas," _Isabella said sweetly. _"Whatchyadoin'?"_

_"I'm just looking for you, sweetie."_

"'Sweetie?'"

Ferb looked anywhere but the monitor screen, whistling innocently.

* * *

Isabella giggled. Phineas grabbed one of her hands.

Meanwhile, Buford was peaking out from behind the tree, watching them. "This is really getting old," he said to himself. "This is now the third time today this has happened."

Phineas was saying something to Isabella that Buford couldn't hear.

* * *

The _real_ Phineas, watching on the monitor, could hear it.

_"You know, Isabella, you're very special to me."_

Isabella giggled. _"Really, Phineas?"_

_"Of course. You're more important to me than anything in the world."_

_"More important than inventing?"_

_"More important than inventing."_

On the screen, Isabella moved closer to Phineas.

_"More important than Ferb? Or Perry? Or Candace?"_

_"More important than the three of them combined."_

She moved closer again.

Phineas's eyes were locked on the screen. He reached for the volume knob and turned it up.

"Confused, are we?" Ferb asked.

"Shh! I'm trying to listen!"

Ferb rolled his eyes and grinned slightly.

The Isabella on the screen half-shut her eyes. Her smile faded and she asked, _"Am I more important than…summer?"_

It was imaginary Phineas's turn to move closer. _"A day spent with you toiling away with work or school is better than any summer day having fun without you. Of course, spending a summer day with you, even doing nothing at all, is about the best thing I could possibly imagine." _

Real Phineas's eyes grew wide. Then he abruptly turned to Ferb. "_This_ is what Isabella day dreams about?"

Ferb opened his mouth as if to say something, but closed it again. He slowly walked away, back into the house.

Phineas turned his attention back to the monitor.

* * *

Buford put a hand on his throat pretended to gag. "Ugh! Barfaroni with cheese!" He took a moment to think about what he had just said. "I have, apparently, been spending too much time around Candace."

He looked back at his friends. Isabella had closed her eyes and was leaning forward.

* * *

_"Oh, Phineas…"_

_"Isabella…"_

_"Does this mean…?"_

_"That we'll be together?"_

_"Always?"_

Phineas's gaze was locked on the imaginary versions of himself and Isabella on the screen. His eyes looked like they were about to pop out of his head.

_"I think it does."_

* * *

As Phineas and Isabella both started to lean toward each other in slow motion, Buford lost his patients. "Whatever happens to me, so be it, but I can't take this anymore!"

He walked out from behind the tree. "Oh, for cryin' out loud! Just kiss her already!"

Phineas and Isabella froze, their lips just an inch apart.

* * *

The real Phineas blinked. "Oh. I forgot." He swallowed nervously. "Buford."

As if on cue, Ferb reappeared at Phineas's side.

* * *

"Well?" Buford asked as he walked right up to Phineas and Isabella.

Isabella looked at Phineas, still frozen in place, then at Buford, then back again. "Urrrrrg!" She shoved Phineas away. When she did, the entire world faded away, leaving just Buford and Isabella standing in empty space. But, instead of empty blackness, the entire world was a never-ending neon pink.

* * *

"Now I think we're getting somewhere," Phineas said. Ferb nodded.

* * *

Isabella got right up in Buford's face, jabbing an accusing finger at his chin. "You! Why are you like this?"

Buford raised his hands above his head as if Isabella were holding a gun to his throat instead of just her finger. "What do you mean?"

"Why do you keep screwing around with my imagination?"

Buford frowned. He looked confused. "What?"

"Every time I had a day dream today, you were there! Even the one I had about Pinky! Why are you always here?"  
"Wait…start over. I was in your day dreams?"

"Yes!"

Buford thought for a minute. "So…Pinky starving…in your kitchen…that was a day dream?"

Isabella took a step backward and crossed her arms. "Yes. Yes it was."

"And the one on the beach? That was a day dream?"

"Yes!"

* * *

"What are they talking about?" Phineas asked Ferb.

"I guess the day dreams the Isabella told us she had that Buford shouldn't have been in but was."

Phineas looked off into space. "Yeah, I guess that makes sense. You know, in an extremely confusing sort of way."

* * *

"And the one where you struck me with lightning?"

"Yes."

Buford looked shocked and more confused than before. "Okay. So…right now…I must be in your imagination."

"Yes."

"Is that the only thing you're gonna say?"

"No."

"Okay, just checking. How exactly did I get in here?"

"In where?"

"In your brain."

"What do you mean by that?"

"This morning when I woke up, I was still real."

It was Isabella's turn to frown. "Wait…you mean to tell me…that you're the _real_ Buford? That's why you haven't been around all day?"

"I guess so. I've been in Phineas and Ferb's backyard, but that was part of your day dream!"

"Yeah, it was. How did you get in here? Into my head, I mean."

Buford shrugged. "I don't know."

"Well, what happened this morning after you woke up?"

"Hmm, let's see…I brushed my tooth, got dressed, had breakfast, and then got my lobster, twine, and quarter-twenty nuts and walked to Baljeet's house."

"That was your lobster?"

Buford rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "Oh, you found that, huh?"

"What were you doing with a lobster…right outside my bedroom window?"

"I was, uh…I was going to…play a prank on you."

Isabella got very close to Buford again, right in his face. "You better not have watched me get dressed."

* * *

Isabella's words caused Phineas to involuntarily picture Isabella dressing herself in his mind. He blushed and shook the thought away.

* * *

"I didn't! I swear! You were tying your bow in your hair when I showed up!"

"If you're lying, so help me-"

"I'm not! I'm not!"

Isabella backed down. "Fine. Continue."

Buford took a few deep breaths. "Okay, let me back up. Baljeet and I walked to your house, and then he went to Phineas and Ferb's and I snuck around to your backyard."

"Where you looked in and saw me tying my bow?" she said sarcastically.

"Yeah…"

"And then what?"

"Uh…I don't know." Realization suddenly struck Buford. "Wait a minute! I do know! I got struck by a random green ray from the sky!"

Isabella raised an eyebrow. "Huh?"

"Yeah! I completely forgot about that! And then, after it hit me, I guess it took me to this empty room. All that was in there was a control panel with a lot of buttons. I pushed a couple buttons randomly, and then…"

Isabella looked at him expectantly.

"…and then…I was in this dark room. Only, it wasn't really dark. And it wasn't really a room. I guess…If this is your brain, or your imagination, then you must not have been thinking about anything at that moment."

"That sounds about right."

"And then I was there for a while and then suddenly I was in Phineas and Ferb's backyard."

"Yeah, that was my first trip to Phin- I mean, my first day dream this morning."

"The one where Phineas ki-"

Isabella slapped her hand over Buford's mouth. "You can stop talking now."

* * *

"So," Phineas said slowly, "By forces unknown, Buford somehow got inserted into Isabella's imagination."

"Seems like it," Ferb said.

"Now, the question is…how do we get him out?"

They thought silently for a moment.

"Hey, Ferb?"

Ferb looked at his brother.

"When you went inside, were you watching the monitor through the window?"

Ferb nodded.

"Did it look like…like Isabella was going to kiss me? Or that I was going to kiss her?"

Ferb thought for a moment. He had three ways he could reply to that question. He could claim he didn't notice, but Phineas would never believe that. Phineas knew that Ferb noticed everything. He could say no, and Phineas might think he was lying, or it could make Phineas want to know for sure and confront Isabella about it when they woke her up, which could lead to complications. Or, he could say yes, since it was brutally obvious that they were going to kiss before Buford had interrupted. Ferb wasn't sure if Phineas would take that as a good thing or a bad thing, but Ferb did not want to chance screwing up Phineas and Isabella's friendship, and he certainly didn't want to have to deal with Isabella should something go awry.

So, instead, Ferb didn't answer the question. He replied to the question with a question. "What was it that Buford said when he came back onto the screen?"

Phineas thought for a moment. "He said, 'Just kiss her already.'"

"Well…there you go."

Phineas's shoulders slumped. Was that what Isabella really wanted?

"Ferb?"

"Yes?"

"This has been a very confusing day."

"Yes. Yes it has."


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Perry set down the knife and adjusted a few of his letters. He read over his message in bread, nodded to himself, and then jumped down from the kitchen chair.

The platypus went into Doofenshmirtz's lab. His nemesis had come in here a while ago, saying he was going to look through some old blueprints for inspiration. He didn't notice when Perry walked up to him, so Perry tugged on his pant leg.

"Hmm? Oh, Perry the Platypus. What is it?"

Perry tugged on his pant leg again and pointed toward the kitchen.

"You want me to come to the kitchen? Okay."

They returned to the kitchen. Perry pointed at the table where his message in cut up bread waited.

"What's this?" Doofenshmirtz squinted and read the letters. Perry's message read: HOW WERE YOU GOING TO GET OUT OF ROGER'S HEAD?

"Oh! You want to know how I was planning on escaping my brother's subconscious once I was done screwing with him!"

Perry nodded. Doof smiled and pulled the remote that he seemed to use for everything out of his pocket. "I'd just push this button and the Imagination Insert-inator would suck me back in, and from there I'd use the little control panel inside to make myself actual size again."

Perry folded his arms and gave a half nod at Doof.

"Right! I can use this to get…whoever it was I zapped…back! I'm so glad I thought of it!"

Perry rolled his eyes.

"The only problem is…how do I find the person I hit inside the imagination of whoever's mind they were inserted into? I guess it would be easier if I knew who the person I hit was because I could track…them-wait a minute!"

Doofenshmirtz ran out onto the balcony and pulled his inator inside. "The canister inside! The person I sucked in here was inside the clean-room control station! If I take it out and open it up, the only thing inside will be the person's dead skin cells, grease from their fingers, and if I'm really lucky, maybe even a little strand of hair! I can use those things as DNA samples, and then build a DNA tracker to find them! Oh, yes! This is perfect!"

Doof grabbed a screwdriver from his work bench and started disassembling the Imagination Insert-inator to get to the canister while Perry watched. Doofenshmirtz offered him the screwdriver. "You wanna help, Perry the Platypus?"

Perry smiled and nodded. He took the screwdriver, knelt down on the floor and began removing the screws holding the vacuum together while Doof fetched a cordless drill.

"By the way, Perry the Platypus, there was a pad of paper and a pen in the junk drawer in the kitchen. You didn't have to go through all the trouble of cutting up that loaf of bread."

Perry smacked himself in the face.

* * *

Phineas sat in silence for a minute, thinking about everything he had seen in Isabella's imagination while staring at her unconscious figure laying on the table a few feet away. Ferb looked at him a few times, hoping for some sort of acknowledgment from his brother, but Phineas gave none. There wasn't even a wrinkle of emotion on Phineas's face.

Phineas suddenly sat forward and leaned on the keyboard. He looked at Ferb. "Do you think…do you think Isabella likes me? I mean, likes me-likes me?"

Once again, Ferb wasn't sure if he should answer that question truthfully. He looked past Phineas at Isabella's lifeless form. "Why don't we wake her up?" was all he said.

Phineas turned back to the girl. "Yeah…let's wake her up."

Ferb tapped out a few commands on the keyboard and hit enter. The machine whirred.

Phineas got up and stood over Isabella, staring at her face. She looked very peaceful, laying there with a bunch of electrodes on her head and all of her cognitive functions artificially shut down. He pulled off the electrode that was right in the middle of her forehead. This was the one that picked up her brain waves and made them visible on the screen. The others had to remain to restart Isabella's cognation.

Slowly, Isabella began to wake up.

* * *

Isabella removed her hand from over Buford's mouth. "Phineas and Ferb are going to figure out a way to get you out of here. They're probably going to wake me up right now."

"Oh, goody. Back in the darkness for me," Buford moaned.

Isabella punched him in the side. "If you tell anyone, especially Phineas, about anything that you saw while you were in here, I will murder you while you sleep!"

Buford stared at Isabella, wide-eyed. "Message received!"

"Good!"

The pinkness in the background began to fade away, returning to black.

"Bye, Buford. See you on the outside," Isabella said. Then she disappeared.

Buford was once again alone in the darkness.

"Back at it, I guess." He sat down, removed his twine and nuts, and returned to his utterly pointless task. Somehow, though, he became so engrossed in tying the nuts to the twine, that when his surroundings changed again, he didn't even notice.

* * *

Isabella awoke slowly. Having your central cognation shut down tends to rob your system of energy.

And of course, the first thing she awoke to was Phineas standing over her.

She gave a weak smile. "Hey, Phineas. Whatchyadoin'?"

"Just watching you to make sure you're okay."

Isabella tried to sit up, but she wasn't quite strong enough. Phineas put a hand on her shoulder and gently pushed her back down. "Give yourself a few minutes to regain your strength."

Ferb strolled over from the control panel. "How do you feel?" was all he asked.

"A little tingly and very low on energy," Isabella said. "And I've got one heck of a headache."

"You're brain is still waking up. You'll feel better in a few minutes. I'll get you something for your headache." Ferb walked into the house.

Phineas sat down on the edge of the table next to Isabella. He didn't look at her. He looked a bit upset.

"Are you okay, Phineas?" Isabella asked.

Phineas didn't answer right away. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity to Isabella, he faced her and said, "Do you always day dream about me kissing you?"

Isabella was taken aback by the bluntness of the question. "Uh…why do you ask?"

"Because, based on what we saw in your head, that was the basis of your imagination."

Isabella looked sheepish. She laughed nervously, then sighed and put her head back so she couldn't see Phineas's face. "Um…yeah. I'm sorry you had to see that."

"I'm not."

"It's just-" She looked at him again. "Wait, what?"

"I'm not sorry I saw it. I'm glad I did."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

Phineas suddenly smiled and stood up from the table. He knelt down on the ground, closer to Isabella's head. "I wasn't sure if you liked me back or not. Now I know."

"REALLY?!"

"Of course." Phineas gave a sly smile. "Now I can do this."

He leaned forward and kissed Isabella full on the lips. She moaned softly.

"Oh, Phineas! You have no idea how long I've waited for that!"

"Aw, man! I'm all out of nuts!"

Isabella suddenly no longer felt weak. She sat up and spun around just in time to see Buford standing up behind the computer console. "Whoa! When did I end up back in Phineas's yard?"

"Buford! How long have you been sitting there?" Isabella asked in an annoyed tone.

"Is that some kind of trick question?"

"No."

"Oh. Uh, well let's see. All the pink faded away, you disappeared, and the next thing I knew I was here again. I wasn't really paying attention, though. I was busy doing this." He held up the ball of twine. There was a length of string as tall as he was dangling free, with evenly spaced nuts tied to it.

Isabella was about to say something else, but she suddenly stopped. "Hold on. This is still my imagination, isn't it?"

Buford looked around. "I don't know. How do we tell?"

The backyard suddenly became an arctic tundra, and Phineas turned into a polar bear. Then it shifted into a rainforest, and the polar bear became a panther. Then they were suddenly standing on the bottom of the ocean, and the panther became a dolphin.

"Based on the fact that we aren't drowning…well, and that I could control the scenery, I'm going to say we're still in my head."

Buford snapped his fingers. "Aw man. I was hoping I was just magically out of your head." Then the ocean faded away and Buford was left in the darkness again. "Stop doing that!"

**Ha ha! Bet you all thought Phineas was actually kissing Isabella!**

**Shoot me a quick review if you have the time.**


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Isabella awoke slowly. Having your central cognation shut down tends to rob your system of energy.

And of course, the first thing she awoke to was Phineas standing over her.

"Hey, Phineas. Whatchyadoin'?"

"Just watching you to make sure you're okay."

Isabella tried to sit up, but she wasn't quite strong enough. Phineas put a hand on her shoulder and gently pushed her back down. "Give yourself a few minutes to regain your strength."

_Whoa. Déjà vu,_ Isabella thought. She quickly pinched her arm. "Ow!"

"What'd you do that for?" Phineas asked.

"Just making sure I'm actually awake this time."

Phineas raised an eyebrow.

Ferb strolled over. "How do you feel?"

Isabella was about to say she felt fine, until she noticed Phineas staring at her. "Oh, uh, I have a bit of a headache. Do you have anything for that?"

"It may not be a good idea to put any drugs in your system while your brain is still restarting, but I'll get you an ice pack," Ferb said, and he left.

Isabella turned to Phineas. "So…" Phineas looked down at the ground. "What's the verdict, doc?"

"Do you remember what you dreamed about?" Phineas asked.

"Yes…well, sort of," she quickly added.

"Then you know. Somehow, the real Buford got converted into…gray matter, I guess, and got sucked into your brain."

"Yeah, I remember that part."

Phineas turned completely around, facing away from Isabella as she sat up. "Do you remember what happened before your conversation with Buford?"

Isabella grimaced. "Did you see what happened after my conversation with Buford?"

"No. I had already disconnected the brain wave reader."

_Whew! _"No, I don't really recall what happened before I spoke to Buford."

Phineas faced her again. "Why did you ask if I saw what happened after? Was there more?"

Before Isabella could answer, Ferb came out of the house and Baljeet re-entered from the side gate.

"Hello, everybody!" Baljeet called.

_Saved by the Baljeet! Thank you!_

"Hey, Baljeet!"

Ferb handed Isabella the ice pack.

"What is going on?" Baljeet asked. Phineas quickly explained. "Oh, so that is what happened to Buford."

"So now we just have to figure out how to get Buford out."

Baljeet looked excited. "Yes! Finally! A chance to use my knowledge of both science and psychology to accomplish a common goal! Let us get started!"

* * *

Dr. Doofenshmirtz held his completed DNA tracker up for Perry to see. "I'm all done! How's it going on your end?"

Perry finished removing one final screw and then pulled the capsule from inside the vacuum.

"Alright!" Perry brought it over and Doof took it. "Now, we have to be very, very, very careful in extracting the DNA from this thing. We don't want to contaminate it and mess up the tracker's fine tuning."

He turned around and proceeded to drop the canister on the floor. It shattered.

Perry looked up at Doofenshmirtz, clearly annoyed.

Doof laughed nervously. "Accidents will happen, right?"

* * *

Candace returned home from the mall to the sound of construction echoing from her backyard.

"Oh, now what?"

She dropped her bags on the kitchen table and ran out to the backyard. As usual, some remarkably impossible contraption awaited her. The computer console and table from earlier had been added on to. There was now a large chamber of some sort hooked up to the computer and a helmet connected to a large tube replaced the electrodes. Ferb was behind the chamber, fiddling with the wires beneath a raised panel.

"Hi, Candace!" Phineas called. "How was the mall?"

"What are you guys doing out here?" Candace asked, ignoring the question. She weaved her way through the maze of parts scattered about on the lawn.

For the second time, Phineas explained what had happened to Buford and Isabella. "So we're building this device to extract Buford from Isabella's subconscious," he finished.

Candace stared at Phineas blankly. "I swear, you guys get weirder every day."

"Hi, Candace!" Isabella called out as she entered the backyard carrying a box of electrical parts with Baljeet.

Candace spun around to face Isabella. "Hey, Isabella."

They set down the box near Ferb, who thanked them with a nod. Candace approached them, leaving Phineas to return to his work on the helmet.

"So…Buford is really stuck inside your head?" she asked.

"Yup."

"How exactly did that happen?"

Isabella shrugged. "All Buford remembers is a random green ray from the sky."

Candace nodded knowingly. "Yup. That sounds about right."

Isabella motioned for Candace to lean down so she could whisper in the teen's ear. "Phineas and Ferb built a machine that would let them look into my imagination. I think Phineas knows."

"You mean about…?"

"Yeah. That."

Candace stood back up to full height, smiling kindly. "I got your back, girlfriend. What do you need me to do?"

"For now, just don't call your mom."

Candace looked panicked. "But-!"

"Please, Candace?" Isabella begged.

Candace looked at her for a few moments. Isabella's pleading eyes were as big as dinner plates. "Oh, fine…"

"Thank you, Candace."

"But I'm still going to sit out here with you guys to make sure that you don't do anything super dangerous."

"Deal."

* * *

Doof swept the remains of the capsule into a dust pan. Perry was still glaring at him angrily.

"Don't worry, Perry the Platypus. I got this."

Doof set the dust pan down on the counter and walked over to open a large door on the other side of the lab. "Norm!" he called.

The giant robot man appeared in the doorway a few seconds later. "What is it, sir?"

"Come with me."

"Coming, sir!"

Norm followed Doof back to the table where the dust pan sat.

"Open wide," Doofenshmirtz said, holding up the pan.

Norm's stomach plate opened, revealing a strange looking containment unit. Doof emptied the contents of the dust pan into this container. Norm quickly retracted his outer shell.

"I need you to extract the DNA from this, but eliminate all DNA belonging to me, Perry the Platypus, and Vanessa. I'm only interested in unrecognized DNA."

"Right away, sir!"

**Sorry this chapter is so short. I wanted it to be longer, but I just can't keep my eyes open anymore to keep writing tonight.**


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

"Okay, I think we're done!"

The group congregated around Phineas and the machine. "So…what is it?" Candace asked.

Phineas picked up the helmet. "Well, just like before, Isabella will lie on this table, and we'll shut down her central cognation, except for her subconscious. That part, the electrodes could do, but this helmet does a little more. It will scan Isabella's brain for Buford's DNA, which we have thanks to Baljeet." He turned to the Indian boy. "I still can't believe you just happened to have a jar of Buford's saliva."

Baljeet sighed. "He follows a strict bullying regiment. If he's not around to give me a wet willy when it is on the schedule, he calls me and tells me to do it myself."

Isabella raised an eyebrow. "Ew. Why not just tell him you did it and not stick your finger in Buford's saliva? You know, and then your ear?"

"Because he checks."

"How?"

"You do not want to know."

Isabella retracted a step.

"Anyway," Phineas continued, "the helmet will scan for Buford's DNA and extract it. It will travel up this tube-" He traced the tube connected to the top of the helmet with his hand. "-and into this chamber, where Buford's molecular structure will be reconfigured and reassembled."

Phineas turned to the group again. "This is one of the few things we've ever built that could actually be a little dangerous, both to Buford and-" His voice trailed off as his eyes met Isabella's. "And to Isabella," he finally finished.

There was silence, broken when Candace said, "Alright, well, get Buford out so I can bust you."

"Sure thing, Candace. Isabella, if you please?" Phineas picked up the helmet and held it out to her. Isabella took a deep breath before finally taking it from him. "We know you won't be able to actually control your imagination with your cognation shut down, but try to tell Buford what we're doing. He might feel a little tingle."

"Or intense, grinding pain, one or the other," Ferb pointed out.

"Yeah, or that."

Isabella leaned a little closer to Phineas. "Am I going to feel anything?"

Phineas looked into her eyes with seeming intense concentration before answering, "You'll be asleep. You won't feel a thing." He thought a moment. "Well, you might after you wake up."

"Oh," she said quietly. She put on the helmet and laid down on the table.

* * *

"All done, sir!" Norm's drawer opened up, revealing a Petri dish that had not been there before with tiny, nearly invisible particles on it. The pieces of the old capsule were gone.

"I'll take that," Doofenshmirtz said, removing the little plastic dish and setting it on the table. He picked up his DNA tracker and flicked a switch. A tiny vacuum tube extended and sucked up the particles on the dish. "There we go! All ready to locate!" He turned to Perry. "Done reassembling the Imagination Insert-inator, Perry the Platypus?"

Perry looked up from where he was working on the floor. He had built a new capsule to replace the shattered one and put the Imagination Insert-inator back together. He gave Doof a thumbs up.

"Excellent!" Doofenshmirtz began to walk out onto the balcony again. "Follow me, Perry the Platypus."

Perry followed Doof outside, pushing the rolling inator. Norm remained in the lab.

"Okay, now I'll just turn on my tracker and…" Doofenshmirtz flipped a switch, activating the tracking device. The little remote-type thing beeped a few times, and then the screen lit up with the words TARGET MATCH and coordinates for the subject. "…there we go!"

Doof quickly knelt down and began to program the coordinates into the Imagination Insert-inator.

* * *

"Is everything ready, Ferb?" Phineas asked. Ferb looked up from the monitor screen and gave Phineas a silent thumbs up. "Great!" He turned to Isabella, lying on the table. "All set, Isabella?"

Isabella smiled nervously. "Just get Buford out of my head already."

"Roger that! Beginning cognitive shut down."

* * *

Buford sighed. Isabella had managed to keep her head clear of daydreams, and so there was absolutely nothing to occupy Buford's attention. Just endless, black space. "I am so bored. Bored. Bored. Bored. Huh. The more times you say a word, the less it sounds like a word. It just begins to sound like mush. Bored. Bored. Bored. Bored. Bored. Bored."

Buford stopped speaking, realizing that he had become so bored that he was just repeating one word over and over again. "I CAN'T TAKE THIS ANYMORE! GET ME OUT OF HERE!"

* * *

"All set to fire the retractor beam!" Doofenshmirtz announced proudly. "Not to be confused with a tractor beam, of course. That's a completely different thing."

Perry motioned for him to get on with it.

"Okay, okay. Don't get your tail in a twist." Doofenshmirtz flicked on the inator. The green beam of light shot out of the emitter on top, the end disappearing into the suburbs. "Alright. It's working." He looked quizzically at Perry. "Is it actually possible for you to twist your tail?"

Perry shrugged.

* * *

Buford noticed the darkness around him beginning to shift. "Oh, good. _Something. _I'm just gonna skip the daydream and immediately get Isabella's attention this time."

* * *

Isabella found herself standing on a beach again with Phineas. Phineas looked rather dreamily into Isabella's eyes. "Isabella, I lo-"

Buford ran up behind Phineas, grabbed him with both hands- "Out of the way, Dinner Bell!" -and threw the triangle headed boy across the beach.

"Buford!" Isabella yelled angrily.

Buford grabbed Isabella by the shoulders and started to shake her. "Please, please, please tell me that Phineas and Ferb have figured out a way to get me out of here! I'm so bored I can't take it anymore!"

The scenery around them faded into pink again. Buford's bluntness shook "subconscious Isabella" out of her day dream. She remembered what was going on. "Oh, yeah. Right. They're working on that right now. They shut down my brain again."

"Well? Well? What are they doing? Do they need me to do anything from here?"

"Nope. They just said to tell you that they're about to extract you and that you might feel a slight tingle."

Buford finally let go of Isabella's shoulders. He looked quite relieved. "Whew. That's great news."

"Actually, they said it could be a tingle, or excruciating pain. One of the other."

Buford fainted.

* * *

"Okay, Ferb," Phineas said, "Begin scanning."

Ferb pressed a button and a red glow escaped from under the helmet.

"That's supposed to happen, right?" Candace asked. "Isabella's head isn't on fire or anything?"

"I think if her head were on fire, the glow would be rather orange," Baljeet told her.

"Oh, sorry," she replied sarcastically.

"Nope, everything is going just fine, Candace."

Suddenly, a green beam of light, one that extended all the way into the city in one continuous stream, struck the helmet.

"Uh, is that supposed to happen?"

Phineas looked at the monitor nervously. "No, no it's not." He and Ferb started tapping the keyboard furiously. "It's going to overload! Take cover!"

* * *

Buford's body suddenly became surrounded by little silvery sparkles.

"I guess they've started," Isabella said.

"Yeah. This doesn't feel so bad."

The silver sparkles suddenly turned an angry red color.

"Okay, now it hurts! It hurts a lot! OW!"

"What's happening?" Isabella yelled, fear in her voice.

* * *

Candace and Baljeet dove behind the tree and Ferb ran for the side yard. Phineas was about to follow, but then he remembered Isabella still lying on the table. The machine beginning to whine loudly, he sprinted back over and began tugging on the helmet, trying to get it off her head so he could carry her to safety.

"It won't come off!" he called out, hoping Ferb, Baljeet or Candace would hear and come to his aid, but the machine was whining so loudly now that his voice was lost.

He glanced quickly at the monitor. He cringed at the flashing words reading MELTDOWN IMMINENT.

With no other alternative in sight, he threw himself over Isabella's body as a human shield, covering her as completely as he could. He buried his rather large and pointy face under her neck, hoping for at least some protection.

A blinding red light began to shoot from the inside of the reality reconfiguration chamber. The whine reached a pitch so loud that Phineas could no longer hear it.

And then, the chamber exploded.

**One or two more chapters to go, I think. Can't really give an exact number until I actually start writing.**


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Candace hadn't seen Phineas run back to protect Isabella. When she uncovered her face and peered out from behind the tree, she could not see Phineas or Isabella.

What she did see was the shrapnel and debris scattered around the backyard. The computer console and monitor were gone, blown to bits. The table where Isabella had been laying was flipped over and covered by a large, curved piece of sheet metal from the reconfiguration chamber. The chamber itself appeared to have mostly collapsed in on itself.

"Phineas?" Candace called nervously. "Phineas? Isabella?"

Ferb peeked around the corner of the house. He heard something beneath the flipped and buried table. To this, he pointed.

"I hear them!" Candace cried. She and Ferb ran over to the pile and quickly pulled off the heavy piece of sheet metal and flipped over the table.

Phineas lay next to Isabella. Both were conscious, but just barely. Isabella turned and looked at Phineas, who's eyelids were fluttering as he tried to regain sense of his surroundings.

Candace reached down to give Isabella a hand while Ferb tried to revive Phineas. "Hey, I got my wish," Isabella whispered.

"What wish?" Candace asked.

"Trapped under rubble with Phineas. And I know this isn't a day dream because my head feels like it's going to explode."

Candace raised an eyebrow. "You…hoped this would happen?"

"Well, not exactly. It's a long story."

As soon as Isabella was on her feet again, she stumbled and Candace had to catch her. "You okay?"

"Yeah, yeah. Just a little disoriented is all."

At that moment, Phineas regained his senses and Ferb helped him sit up. "Ugh. That was not fun." He turned to Ferb. "Thanks, Ferb." Ferb nodded. Phineas turned to look at Isabella. "It's a good thing I like you or I'd kill you for almost getting me killed."

Isabella blushed. "Uh…what?" She was trying to figure out Phineas's use of the word "like" in that statement.

Phineas opened his mouth to answer, but was interrupted when something shuffled underneath the collapsed capsule. All four of them ran over to the wreckage and started pulling aside pieces of metal and brick. And underneath all of it was-

"Buford!" Phineas, Candace and Isabella cried out. "You made it out!"

Buford groaned. "Am I really out? Prove it."

The four of them looked around hopelessly. "How, exactly?" Phineas asked.

"Guess that must mean I'm out." Buford stood up and brushed off his clothes. "I do not want to go back there again."

He stepped off the shattered base and onto the grass.

"How do you feel?" Isabella asked.

"Like Baljeet is inside my head trying to teach me math," Buford replied, putting his hand on his temple.

"Hey, speaking of which," Phineas said, "where is Baljeet?"

They looked around the yard. Baljeet was no where to be found.

"Probably went to give himself an emergency CAT scan after the explosion," Isabella suggested.

"Yeah."

"Yup."

"Probably."

* * *

"Hello?" Baljeet called. "Hello? Anyone? It's really dark in here!"

* * *

Isabella shifted over to Candace. "Do you think you can get Ferb and Buford out of the yard so I can talk to Phineas privately?" she whispered.

Candace smiled. "Sure."

* * *

The green ray extending from the Imagination Insert-inator suddenly became wider, growing outwards, as if it were a backed up pipe.

"That doesn't look good," Doof observed.

Perry dove behind a planter as the ray suddenly became too much for the focusing devise and the inator exploded, leaving Doofenshmirtz covered from head to toe in black soot.

Doof coughed. "You think this is funny, don't you, Perry the Platypus?" Perry returned from behind the planter. "This is neither funny, nor is it ironic that my machine blew up without the self destruct button being pushed."

Perry cracked a small smile.

* * *

Candace managed to lure Buford and Ferb out of the backyard and into the driveway.

"Well, I'm going home anyway," Buford said. "I'm exhausted, both mentally and physically. Plus, I still have a pounding headache."

"Not surprising, considering you were just completely reconstructed on a molecular level from a dematerialized form via an explosion."

Candace and Buford stared at Ferb blankly. "Yeah, whatever, dude." Buford waved goodbye and headed down the sidewalk. "See you guys tomorrow."

As Buford left, Jeremy arrived. "Hey, Candace."

Candace whipped around, almost with enough speed to knock over her brother. "Hi, Jeremy!"

* * *

"Ooh, now what is happening?" Baljeet asked himself aloud. The blackness around him began to shimmer, and a moment later he found himself on a pier in Venice, Italy. "This is strange."

A few yards away were Candace and Jeremy. He was about to call out to them when he noticed they were speaking in very unnatural tones and decided to eavesdrop instead.

"I love you, Candace Flynn!" Jeremy suddenly exclaimed. He dropped down to one knee. Candace covered her mouth in surprise, unable to hide her smile. "Will you marry me?"

Candace squealed in delight. "YES! Of course, Jeremy!"

The talking zebra suddenly appeared right behind Candace and gave her a hug. "Congratulations, Kevin."

Baljeet's eyes grew wide. "Oh no! That explosion somehow threw me into Candace's imagination!" He ran over to Candace. "Candace! Candace!"

Candace's smile faded away. "Baljeet? What the heck are you doing here?"

"I am stuck inside your subconscious!"

Candace looked around. She looked at Jeremy, at the zebra, at the watery streets crowded with gondolas. Then she looked back at Baljeet. "AAAHHHHH!"

* * *

"AAAAHHHHHHH!"

"Candace!" Jeremy cried. "What's wrong?"

"Baljeet!"

"Huh?"

Candace ignored Jeremy and turned to Ferb. "Baljeet is stuck inside my head!"

Ferb shook his head in disgust. He grabbed Candace by the arm and dragged her toward the house.

"Please, don't blow me up!" Candace yelled.

Jeremy watched as they crossed the front yard, confusion on his face. "I'll see you later, Candace!" he called, and quickly left. "Okay, that was weirder than usual," he muttered.

* * *

Isabella sighed. She was finally alone with Phineas, but it was only because she absolutely had to talk to him.

"So…" she started slowly as she sat down under the tree, hugging her knees up to her chest.

"So…" Phineas said, sitting down next to her.

Isabella thought carefully. "I don't really know what I imagined when you had my brain shut down. What did you see?"

"Well…"

* * *

Perry pointed to the remains of the Imagination Insert-inator.

"What?"

Perry gestured again.

"Oh. I get it. You don't think it worked, do you?"

Perry shook his head.

"You aren't going to let me give this up until I prove to you that whoever I inserted into someone else's mind is safely out, are you?"

Perry nodded.

"Well you know what? I've had enough of this! I already had to build two inators today and come up with a solution to a mistake I made on my own evil plan! I'm done! That's it! I'm burnt out!"

Perry pointed to the wrecked inator again.

"No!"

The platypus pointed once more.

"If you aren't going to let me give this up, I guess I'll just have to make you forget it ever happened in the first place! NORM!"

The giant robot man ran awkwardly out onto the deck. "Yes, sir?"

"I need you to wipe Perry the Platypus's mind of today's evil scheme."

"I can be more accurate if you give me an actual time frame, sir."

Doof thought for a moment. "Everything from about ten o'clock this morning until five minutes ago ought to do it. Based on what memories he'll have left, he'll think he came over to fight me, we fought, and he blew up my inator."

"Okay, sir. Just a few moments."

Perry didn't particularly like being talked about as if he wasn't standing right there. He also didn't like the idea of having his memory wiped, but he stood there and waited none the less.

* * *

Phineas stuttered, stumbling over his words. "Do…do you, uh…do you love me, Isabella?" he choked out.

Isabella closed her eyes and hung her head low. After a moment, she nodded dejectedly.

Phineas sat back against the tree. "Wow. I never would have guessed."

Isabella slowly opened her eyes and looked at Phineas. "Do you hate me now?"

"Hate you? Why would I hate you?"

"Because I doubt you love me back. Friendzone, you know." Tears started to slip down Isabella's cheeks. She stared at the ground. "Its like…forbidden territory for a friend to love one of their other friends. I'd expect you to not want to be friends with me anymore."

"No, don't be ridiculous! How could you even think that?" Phineas put his arm around Isabella's shoulders to comfort her. "I could never hate you! You're my best friend. It was just a little…shocking, that's all."

Isabella looked back at Phineas. "So…do you love me?"

* * *

"All ready, sir!"

"Great!" Doofenshmirtz turned to Perry. "Thanks for being so patient, Perry the Platypus. Now, if you'll just stand still and let Norm hit you with this ray…"

Norm held up his right index finger. The metal "skin" retracted, revealing a small ray similar to the one that had been on top of the Imagination Insert-inator. Perry quickly ran across the balcony.

"Quick, Norm! Shoot him! Shoot him!"

Norm began firing wildly at Perry, red beams of light coming dangerously close to striking the Platypus.

Perry grabbed his jetpack from where he'd left it and jumped up on the railing. He fired up the little jet engines and took off.

Norm and Doofenshmirtz ran up to the railing. "Hit him, Norm! Hit him!"

Perry steered for home. He never expected the rays from Norm's memory eraser to have the range to make it all the way to his home.

He was wrong.

* * *

Phineas opened his mouth to answer Isabella's question. The girl waited with rapt attention and dreaded anticipation.

Suddenly, a random red ray from the sky struck Phineas. He closed his mouth.

"Phineas?"

Phineas turned to face Isabella. "Oh, hey Isabella." _I don't remember putting my arm around her. _He raised an eyebrow. "Why are you crying? What's wrong?"

Isabella was very confused.

Something caught Phineas's attention out of the corner of his eye. "Whoa. What happened here?" What had caught his eye was the myriad of debris and wreckage that was scattered across the lawn.

"You don't remember? Your machine exploded."

"Really? That's odd. Our stuff never explodes. Well, except for those test rockets we built the first time we went to space." He turned back to Isabella. "Is that why you're crying? Did you get hurt?"

_He really doesn't remember._ "Oh, yeah. I got hit in the head." _Nice one, girl._

Phineas stood up and pulled Isabella to her feet. "Come on. Let's go in the house and get out the first aid kit. The one from the basement."

"Okay." Isabella managed to smile.

They walked over to the sliding glass door on the back of the house. Phineas suddenly stopped. "Oh, hang on. Just a sec." He pulled a remote from his pocket and pressed a few buttons.

The backyard opened up along a central dividing line and all the debris fell into the space beneath it. Then the yard fixed itself, the tree shaking as the two halves jolted back into place.

"I didn't know you had that," Isabella said.

"We don't have to use it very much. Come on. Let's check out that pretty little head of yours."

_He thinks my head is pretty! Maybe he really does like me!_

* * *

Perry landed on the roof and slid down the chimney. He hid his fedora from sight as he exited the mantle and dropped to all fours. He was quite hungry so he headed for the kitchen. Phineas and Isabella were just walking in.

"Oh, there you are, Perry," they said in unison. They looked at each other and smiled, blushing.

Perry was confused, but he had more important things on his mind. For instance, the platypus food in his dish in the corner.

* * *

"Norm! You missed every shot!"

"I'm sorry, sir!"

Doof looked at his balcony. It was covered in black soot and there were pieces and parts from his inator everywhere.

"Curse you, Perry the Platypus," he muttered under his breath.

* * *

The lobster held on for dear life as the tree tipped into Phineas and Ferb's giant underground trash receptacle. When the yard came back together, the lobster was able to let go. It crawled off the branch and fell down to the ground, landing on its back.

After several minutes of struggling, the lobster finally managed to right itself. It located the slightly open gate and began crawling towards it.

As it headed down the driveway, it only had one thought on its mind:

_Revenge. Revenge on Buford Van Stomm. _

_Revenge._

**The End**

**Please, take a moment and review this story. It was a lot of fun to write, and I hope you all enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it. I love hearing from my readers, so please, if you have a moment, shoot me a quick review.**

**I have a Phineabella two-shot in mind next before I go back to my ****_P&F Industries _****series.**

**P.S. When Isabella says she got her wish, to be trapped under rubble with Phineas, that is a reference to the song from the episode "Happy Birthday, Isabella!"**

**P.S.S. This is my first story, out of fifteen so far, to have over 1,000 views! Thanks so much, everybody! **


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